This is the 1999 Buick Cielo Concept and its incredibly similar in form and function to the Soarer Aerocabin we featured yesterday. With a hardtop convertible setup that retains the roof rails, the Cielo (which isn't brown, unfortunately) isn't the only car – or even the only Buick – to leverage this concept.
A year later, Buick built the Regal Cielo Concept, applying the same technical idea to a production sedan.
"This is a translation of the most significant feature of the Cielo concept car directly into a potential production application," said Mark D. Hines, Regal brand manager at the time. "Although Regal Cielo is technically a concept car, it is clearly a vehicle which can be built."
Like the Regal GNX concept of the same year, the Regal Cielo never did see production.
The idea of a convertible car that retains its roof rails when the roof panels are down hasn't been entirely abandoned – it's only disappeared on bigger coupes and sedans.
Switching our focus to Fiat, the 500C makes use of this roof rail concept, though the panel itself is made of fabric instead of metal, probably due to the fact the diminutive hatchback lacks any modicum of trunk space.
With the number of glass panoramic roofs on factory vehicles in the market today, a case might be made for replacing these fabric or metal panels with something a bit more transparent.
Best & Brightest, what body style do you think should make an encore appearance? My vote goes to a return of what I call the "private convertible" seen above.
The post QOTD: What Body Style Needs to Make a Comeback? appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
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